MovieChat Forums > The Miracle of Morgan's Creek Discussion > So to whom was Trudy married?

So to whom was Trudy married?

posted 19 years ago by JustJudy
17 replies | jump to latest

I saw this movie for the first time yesterday (LOVED IT!) but unfortunately came in just as Trudy was attempting to explain the night's events to Emmy (I missed the first few minutes). I also missed about 20 minutes towards the end (I returned just in time to see Norval visiting Trudy after the births).

My questions are directed towards anyone who has seen this movie in its entirety:

1) Does Trudy ever discover the identity of her first groom? (Or was she even married during the party?)

2) Why is Norval in a (very decorated) uniform when he visits Trudy in the hosptial?

3) Were Trudy and Norval finally married?

Thanks very much!

[–] ruggedrascal 19 years ago

> 1) Does Trudy ever discover the identity of her first groom? (Or was she
> even married during the party?)

She, and we, never find out who she married or even if she was really married at all.

> 2) Why is Norval in a (very decorated) uniform when he visits Trudy in the
> hosptial?

Governor McGinty gets him out of jail, in part, by getting him out of trouble with the Army:

McGINTY: That was a State Guard uniform.

BOSS: I can see it from here!

McGINTY: As a matter of fact, he's a Colonel in it. I'm sending him his commission.

BOSS: Retroactive as of last year.

> 3) Were Trudy and Norval finally married?

Because Trudy had sextuplets, and must be married as "a matter of public weal," McGinty declares that she is married to Norval:

McGINTY: She's married to Norval Jones, she always has been. The guy married them, didn't he? The boy signed his right name, didn't he?

EDITOR: But he gave his name as Ratzkiwatzki.

McGINTY: He was trying to say "Jones." He stuttered.

EDITOR: What about the first Ratzkiwatzki?

McGINTY: He's annulled.

EDITOR: Who annulled him?

McGINTY: The judge, who do you think? (to the Boss) Get Judge Mendoza on the phone.

BOSS: I'm getting him.

So basically, Trudy and Norval are saved by the publicity value of sextuplets and the power of McGinty's corrupt political machine. Heartwarming and satirical all at once, like the whole movie.

[–] twm-2 18 years ago

Thanks for that "replay." It was funny all over again.

"Nothing in this world is more surprising than the attack without mercy!"--Little Big Man

[–] sap-4 17 years ago

A better question is WHEN was she (supposedly) married and WHERE?
Did they have 24 hour wedding chapels? The marriage must have taken
place late at night and with witnesses. All she need do is go to the local
all night Justice of the Peace or ask the city clerk and get a list (should be public record) of everyone that got married that night. Did they all provide fake addresses as well as fake names?

[–] orionstarman 17 years ago

Many, many years ago Maryland was a state where you could get married right away like LV. If you watch a lot of old movies you will hear someone say..."lets drive down to Maryland tonight and get married." I know I have heard that in more than one movie, just can not think of which one.

Trudy said that she gave a fake name and could not remember what it was.

Roy Buchanan - World's best unknown guitarist.

[–] blanche-2 16 years ago

Trudy was definitely married or the film wouldn't have gotten past the censors in those days.

[–] thewhiterose-1 16 years ago

My parents crossed the state line from Alabama to Mississippi in 1953 and got married. They were both 17 and minors. I will add that they are still happily married :-)

[–] veikko-suvanto 16 years ago

That doesn't prove that she was "really" married. That was just Sturges' way of dancing around the censors.

[–] blanche-2 16 years ago

Well, yes and no. Nowadays we can make our own assumptions, but I'm sure to the audiences back then, she was married. That may have been Sturges' way of dancing around the censors, and maybe Sturges didn't intend for her to be married, but the censors didn't want her to maybe be married. They wanted her to be married. Trudy wasn't lying - she believed she was married. Otherwise, no movie.

[–] joe_538 11 years ago

The "Just Married" sign that fell off the car when Trudy returned in the morning gives the impression she got married. But, Sturges had it play out (and maybe decided in his mind)as though she hadn't/

[–] jackboot 13 years ago

orionstarman ~ "lets drive down to Maryland tonight and get married." I know I have heard that in more than one movie, just can not think of which one.

I can think of two off the top of my head:

The Philadelphia Story, where at the very end, as Tracy is announcing to her guests why her wedding to George is being called off, Dexter feeds her the lines that two years ago she cheated them out of a wedding by eloping to Maryland.

And in (yes, coincidentally, with Philadelphia in the title again!) The Young Philadelphians, the Paul Newman character is very in love with the Barbara Rush character and, because of their very different family backgrounds and other life situations, he decides that they should drive down to Maryland that night and get married.

[–] lubin-freddy 13 years ago

We could have high times
if you'll abide

[–] jackboot 13 years ago

Which one of those guys do you think was "Ratzkiwatzki", her husband and father of her many children?? It was probably one of the three she danced whom we saw with her, since she mentioned them explicitly? Of course, it could be that just about anyone whom happened to be along for that rather wild ride that night could have had a shot at it, but for the sake of discussion, do you think it was:

The tall, dark curly hair one?

The stocky blonde who sang in her ear?

The short little skinny guy?

[–] lubin-freddy 13 years ago

Sturges got away with murder here, as far as the Code was concerned.

We could have high times
if you'll abide

[–] Eightythreeyearoldguy 13 years ago

Many of the outstanding directors had their own ways of getting around the code. I remember Hitchcock did one where if you read lips, the dialogue was racier than what you heard said.

Life, every now and then, behaves as though it had seen too many bad movies

[–] Kathe75 12 years ago

When I was growing up near Philadelphia in the '60s and '70s, you could still elope to Maryland. New Jersey had a three day waiting period and a Wassermann requirement. However, there was a time you could be married at 14(!)in NJ, with parental permission.

[–] JBrannon 9 years ago

No, one couldn't be married without a waiting period in MD after 1938.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elkton,_Maryland

My grandfather, movie stuntman Harry Woolman -- see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elkton,_Maryland#Notable_people and here on IMDb -- used to lead on his motorcycle the out-of-towners coming to be hitched at the 24 hour chapels.

Both he and my grandmother were married in Elkton, where their families resided, in 1936.

JJB

[–] bkweaver45-951-174430 13 years ago

I know this is 5 years late, but I couldn't resist responding to it. This was a comedy written for America when we were desperate for laughter and thougts that were NOT tied to realism. And anyway, in 1945 small town America, asking some of those questions was tantamount to having the entire town know about it. And we did not assume that the "right" to see public records would mean that we could in fact just ask and be given them (I'm not sure we could!) But this was comedic satire. It was a spoof. It was slapstick. I watched this with my 9-year-old granddaughter a few years ago and we both laughed so hard we could barely breathe. It is timeless!